I-129F proof of ongoing relationship

[dannosaur 11]

Hi all,

 

I'm finally starting to help my fiance gather everything together in order to submit the I-129F petition. I have a question about the proof of ongoing relationship portion as specified in the guides. I've read several posts on here on this topic, some say definitely send it, others say you don't have to, or that they don't. Now of course I want to do everything to give this petition the best chance of going through and getting approved without issues or delays caused by RFE's, but we don't have any emails or actual letters sent between us as our entire relationship has revolved around Google Hangouts chat and video calling (of which retrieving logs is incredibly painful). Of course, we've met in person..several times, basically every 3 months since we started dating.

 

So my question is this (from the perspective of UK citizens that have gone through this process and been in this position, if possible): what did you do? Did you send chat/video call logs? Or any other evidence? If not, did you send anything else in its place?

 

Thanks

 

Dan

[Kush_Omaded 29]

Not a UK citizen, but will nonetheless input my two-cents. Chats and video call logs are helpful, but are technically still considered secondary evidence. More important are "primary" pieces of evidence, which are items like receipts from your time together (bonus, but not required, if you have a receipt for the engagement ring), plane boarding pass stubs showing visits, passport stamps, etc. Similarly, pictures are great for showing you have physically been in each other's company; try to select ones that cover a timeline of you two together. Ultimately, it is up to you if you want to include chat logs, but I'd recommend it. I had to sift through months and months of WhatsApp messages to pick the ones that worked best, screenshot, and then assemble in a word document. It's a pain, yes,, but I'd recommend at least including some messages, just to have a concise argument for your case that covers all your bases. Chat logs are good, they show ongoing relationship, so while not necessary to show every single message you've ever sent, it should be fine just to take a screenshot of, say, one message per month that you've been dating. This helps prove you have a relationship that's ongoing.  Ultimately, a wide variety of evidence types makes for a well-rounded case. Hope that helps!

Edited January 16, 2018 by Kush_Omaded

[dentsflogged 352]

This topic has been done to death, but as someone who also asked questions about it, I can totally understand that it's a point of anxiety for many.

 

I ended up talking to a friend of mine who has gone through the K1 process and happens to be a lawyer.  NOT an immigration lawyer and he gave his advice from personal experience ONLY, but he also pointed out that as a lawyer he understands the legalese and mumbo jumbo on forms a bit better than most. 

 

He said that basically everything except verifiable things like receipts from time together, boarding passes, entry stamps and etc is considered "secondary" for the very reason that it's easy to fake the rest of it, if people were really determined to.  It's not hard to make a Google Hangouts call from you computer and walk away to go shopping or to work and leave it connected - the fact that there's a call does not in any way prove that there was any kind of communication happening.  Same as text messages - it's not hard to fake those by sitting on the phone with someone and planning who will text what words/phrases next.  

There are so many stories of people whose partners come from "high fraud" countries getting RFEs or outright denied on K1 - because 1/2 short visits isn't enough to overcome the (sadly, seemingly automatic) assumption that it's fraud until proven otherwise - so the more "hard" evidence you've got, the better. 

 

As to the question at hand - I followed my friend's advice in the end.  We put together a package with all the documents, then for proof attached a 1 page opener - a quick "how we met" (literally 1 line: via a mutual friend that I used to go to school with and he knew from work), timeline of my visits after he left my country, a quick "the next planned visit is X date to X date" and then the actual evidence: certified copies of passport photo page and stamp page, boarding passes, copies of receipts from my last visit, copy of my bank statement showing cash withdrawals from my last visit, copy of tickets and hotel bookings from stuff we did my first visit. 6 or so photos spanning our relationship so far (and the added bonus is that you can see his hair/beard grow and my hair change colour & my weight loss over the course of the photos, not to mention the transition between summer at the beach in one to winter skiing in another, so its pretty obvious that they're taken over a longer timeframe and not just us changing outfits between shots)

[Wuozopo 4,293]

5 hours ago, dannosaur said:

Hi all,

 

I'm finally starting to help my fiance gather everything together in order to submit the I-129F petition. I have a question about the proof of ongoing relationship portion as specified in the guides. I've read several posts on here on this topic, some say definitely send it, others say you don't have to, or that they don't. Now of course I want to do everything to give this petition the best chance of going through and getting approved without issues or delays caused by RFE's, but we don't have any emails or actual letters sent between us as our entire relationship has revolved around Google Hangouts chat and video calling (of which retrieving logs is incredibly painful). Of course, we've met in person..several times, basically every 3 months since we started dating.

 

So my question is this (from the perspective of UK citizens that have gone through this process and been in this position, if possible): what did you do? Did you send chat/video call logs? Or any other evidence? If not, did you send anything else in its place?

 

Thanks

 

Dan

My experience as a UK fiancé. She sent proof we had met in person. Passport stamps, boarding passes, credit card charges in her town, and her charges in mine. Those were the statements with yellow highlighter marking the transactions that showed the store and town with a bold note in the margin saying "Mary in London 1/18/2018" or "Joe in Dallas 11-22-2017". Sent 6 photos together. We had matching tickets to France on the ferry. 

 

Absolutely no chats, Facebook status clips, and there was no engagement ring or wedding ring. And for the visa interview in London...nothing. They don't want to see any of that in London. Ask anybody who has had a K1 interview in London. They will say I took blah, blah, and blah but they didn't even look at it.